Women’s sport is more and more getting the attention it deserves.
Stadiums are filling, television ratings for many sports are climbing and athletes such as the Matildas’ Mary Fowler, triple Olympic gold medallist Jess Fox and star cricketer Ellyse Perry are becoming household names.
Despite this progress, an invisible threat looms, one that risks undoing years of advocacy and momentum.
That threat is the algorithm.
As more fans consume sport through digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and increasingly, AI-curated streaming services such as WSC Sports, the content they see is being selected not by editors but by artificial intelligence (AI).
Algorithms, trained to maximise engagement and profits, are deciding what appears in your feed, which video auto-p
But here is the problem: algorithms prioritise content that is already popular.
That usually means men’s sport.
This creates what researchers call an echo chamber effect, where users are shown more of what they already engage with and less of what they don’t.
Over time, content from women’s competitions risks being squeezed out, not because it is unworthy but because it has not yet achieved the same levels of engagement.
This is not a glitch, it is a structural flaw in how digital platforms are designed to serve content.
It means women’s sport, already underrepresented in traditional media, risks becoming all but invisible to many users in this AI-driven ecosystem.
Source: Women’s sports are fighting an uphill battle against our social media algorithms